Hubble’s panchromatic vision, stretching from ultraviolet through near-infrared wavelengths, reveals the vibrant glow of young, blue star clusters and a glimpse into regions normally obscured by the dust.

The warped shape of Centaurus A’s disk of gas and dust is evidence for a past collision and merger with another galaxy. The resulting shockwaves cause hydrogen gas clouds to compress, triggering a firestorm of new star formation. These are visible in the red patches in this Hubble close-up.

At a distance of just over 11 million light-years, Centaurus A contains the closest active galactic nucleus to Earth. The center is home for a supermassive black hole that ejects jets of high-speed gas into space, but neither the supermassive black hole or the jets are visible in this image.

This image was taken in July 2010 with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

By Nathan Lewis – What are banks’ role in society today? First, they operate a payments system. These are your checking accounts and so forth. Second, they are conduits of capital, making loans mostly to small entities like households and small businesses. In the U.S. in particular, businesses of any considerable size use direct corporate bond finance instead. In Europe and Asia, banks still have a role providing loans to large businesses.

Statistics on corporate bonds show the process of disintermediation that has occurred. In the U.S., corporations have $4,967 billion of corporate bonds outstanding, and $1,395 billion of bank loans. This compares to the eurozone, where corporations have €4,761 billion of bank loans, and €882 billion of bonds. In 1968, U.S. corporations had $139 billion of bonds and $105 billion of bank loans. more> http://is.gd/5Wcyzy

Changes in income from capital gains and dividends were the single largest contributor to rising income inequality between 1996 and 2006. Changes in tax policy also made a significant contribution to the increase in income inequality. more> http://is.gd/j2YuPz